A collection of short stories by Ivan Raley

I was standing in the checkout line hoping that the lady with one hundred and more items would soon be through; it looked to me like she was trying to purchase something from ever department in the store. Of course she had coupons, gift certificates, and a due bill and then made a ten minute search for the money she needed to complete her purchase. It was a real experience to watch someone purchase three buggies of items, the clerk wished her a nice weekend and then looked at my three items and smiled, nothing like getting behind Mrs. Russell, she doest that ever week. I smiled and said she much have a large family plus a lot of money, the clerk laughed and said; she would bring half of it back the next day or so she just liked to shop. We both laughed and the young man behind me said, “Don’t I know you?” I turned and looked at him and had no memory of his face. “Not sure” I said, “I am a Baptist preacher and have preached at a lot of places maybe you saw me somewhere like that.” He paid for his purchased and followed me to the door, and then he said, “You were Christmas when I was nine.” I looked confused and he went on; my dad died when I was nine and my sister and I had no Christmas that year, you were the pastor at the church down the street and on the day before Christmas you brought gifts and food to our house from your church. I asked him where this was and when, he told me and then the past returned, I remembered, even though it had been more that thirty years a small glimpse of that year returned. He told me how much it had meant to his family, how his mother had remarried, they had moved and he now had a family of his own; then he reached out and hugged me and said, “I don’t remember your name but I will never forget your voice and that best of all the days of Christmas long, long ago.” My age didn’t show as I walked to my car, God had just given me a wonderful gift and I was a boy again. Ivan